Jens Eberhardt, Managing Director of Cashinfrapro, has written a useful paper – ‘Green Cash Logistics’ – which considers how modern ways of working can reduce the environmental impact of the cash cycle.

Over the past year Currency Research has successfully pivoted to deliver online virtual events across its portfolio, with approximately 50 live and on-demand sessions reaching over 3,000 industry participants across the cash and payments industries.

A survey carried out in February 2021 by the Dutch National Bank (DNB Cash) contained some good news for cash. In five years’ time over 70% of all age groups expect still to be using cash.

Cryptocurrencies are almost all built on two different approaches – proof-of-work or proof-of-state.

A shortage of EMV chips is creating real risks for payments since these chips enable ATM cash withdrawals and all forms of digital payments.

Ralph Wintergerst, CEO of the G+D Group, has recently written an article published in the International Banker magazine. The article’s title is ‘Britain needs a digital central bank currency’, but in fact the article is an explanation of why any central bank needs a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

In the last week there have been a number of payment related stories. What links them all is that they demonstrate that electronic payments face a range of challenges that have a direct impact on customers. The role of the regulator is evident in all of them whether requiring action or ‘guiding’ providers to take action.

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issued its working paper 3/2021 ‘How to issue a central bank digital currency’. Written by David Chaum, Christian Grothoff and Thomas Moser, the paper presents the SNB’s thinking about a token-based retail CBDC, a rather different approach from most other central banks.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued its first Sustainability Report for 2020/21. The report has a section dedicated to reducing emissions related to currency operations. MAS has identified four areas of focus to reduce its currency related emissions.

In 2020 the number of ATMs fell slightly according to RBR who are about to publish their ‘Global ATM Market and Forecasts to 2026’ report. In fact, 2020 was a mixed year where the long-term growth in ATM installations slowed rather than stopped.

In 2015 Russia set up a national payments card network called Mir. It was set up with government backing after MasterCard and Visa cut off services to a number of the country’s banks following the annexation of the Crimea.

A recent article in Kenya’s Star newspaper looked at why the informal transport system of ‘matatus’ (privately owned cars or minibuses acting as shared taxis) does not make use of M-Pesa wholeheartedly. It suggests two reasons.

Central banks making statements about investigating or working on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) this month include Brazil, Georgia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Norway, Pakistan and Russia.

Deutsche Bank has announced that it will close 150 bank and Postbank branches this year and a further 50 Postbank branches next year. The CEO said that customers are coming to branches less often, preferring to use digital products such as remote advisory video sessions. In January Commerzbank announced it would close 340 branches in Germany.

Finextra has published an article highlighting different visions for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor at the Bank of England, made a speech that said it was ‘probable’ that the ‘state will need to issue, public money’.

The term ‘programmable money’ is increasingly bandied about in articles, but what is it? It is largely considered in the context of B2B transactions. Perhaps a few simplistic examples of how it might work best illustrate why it is becoming a ‘thing’.

Three reports bring insight into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on payments in the US.

After several months of a COVID-enforced digital only publication of Cash & Payment News™, we are happy to announce the resumption of the hard-copy distribution of the newsletter from June. Thank you for your patience during the disruption and we ask for a little more forbearance as delivery services attempt to return to something like their pre-COVID levels.

YouGov have issued their 2021 Global Banking and Finance Report, having surveyed 1,000 people in 17 countries representing a nationally representative sample with three exceptions. These were China, where sampling was ‘online representative’, India ‘nationally urban representative’ and Mexico, which was nationally representative but with an urban bias. Six Asian countries were involved – Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Singapore.

Card fees are complicated. CMSPI have issued a useful paper looking at Germany’s payment market and what has happened since 2015. The Merchant Service Charge (MSC), what merchants pay to receive a payment from their customer, consists of three elements, as below.